France & Spain in the American Revolution

Antipathy between the French and the British was not new. The French were at war with the colonists a few years before during the French and Indian War, an event which made the American colonies important to Europe for the first time:

America was of minor importance to European diplomacy. . . until the French and Indian War of 1754-1763. Before then the ownership and boundaries of the various European colonies on the North American continent was for European statesmen a matter of less importance than the fate of minor Italian or German states. . .

Neither the French nor the British wanted war at the time, but miscalculations on both sides brought it about after an earlier treaty had been signed. The French and the British were suspicious of one another both in Europe and in the colonies. The British considered the fate of the colonies a central concern and as an integral part of an interconnected empire, in part for pure economic reasons:

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lop ways of making political gain from the conflict. The European powers tried to deal with the Revolutionary War through diplomacy, and while these are often thought of as peace efforts or mediation efforts, in fact for each, termination of the war was only one factor in a complication equation involving what each country valued the most. Spain had clear aims in the war--first, securing Gibraltar from the British, and second, gaining exclusion navigation rights on the mississippi River, the return of Florida, and control of the Gulf of Mexico. France wanted to weaken Britain. While it has been believed by many that the American victory at Saratoga was responsible for the French decision to enter the war, some historians dispute this and find that the importance of this victory has been exaggerated. Certain documents circulated in France indicate that a French war with Britain was inevitable and that such a war would best be fought with the Americans as allies rather than enemies. French diplomat Charles Gravier Vergenne argued the same essential position in trying to get Spain to cooperate in a joint war against Britain, but Spain remained unconvinced: Having resolved her difficulties with Portugal, she no longer had reas
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Approximate Word count = 1745
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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